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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27716066">Breaking The Chains</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FullElven/pseuds/FullElven'>FullElven</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>World of Warcraft</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, F/M, Shadowlands, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Spoilers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 07:15:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,180</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27716066</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FullElven/pseuds/FullElven</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Life is a prison, but so is love. And sometimes, the most you could want is to break someone's chains to know they ~chose~ you, not that you were written so by those who have no stake in your life.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Nathanos Blightcaller/Sylvanas Windrunner</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Breaking The Chains</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Inspired by the Sylvanas/Anduin cinematic where she reveals her intentions. Specifically:</p><p>"~From our first breath to our last,<br/>Every decision is made for us.<br/>Then the afterlife decides what <br/>eternity we must endure. <br/>We cannot even choose who we...~"</p><p>You could fill in that pained silence with anything, and I chose "love."</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>We cannot even choose who we..." Sylvanas stared into the flames, unable to bring herself to finish it. The Young Wrynn was barely old enough to shave compared to the life she lived, what could he possibly know about the word? Love.</p><p>In her mind, Nathanos's screams echoed through the walls of Torghast within the Maw. "This is not the way it has to be." The Jailer told her. "This is just how it was written." Was he correct? Was her Nathanos truly damned to this afterlife because of Fate? Or was it insurance to make sure she stayed to the corse? Had he gotten rid of a distraction as easily as she had done to others in the past?</p><p>"We couldn't control anything!" She said a little more forcefully than she had meant to, pain leaking into her words, as if she were wishing Nathanos could hear them now. She could feel his torture, his pain, more keenly than any she had felt before...like lashes across her soul.</p><p>Long after she had left the Little Lion's cage, she walked the walls of Torghast, unimpeded by the forces and spectres that haunted it's halls. In spite of the ever changing halls, she did not have to think to find her quarry. One foot in front of another, the grey masonry and gunmetal accoutrements blurred, dancing at the edges of her vision. There was some cruel irony in having once proclaimed that life was a prison, yet she now made her home in one. </p><p>A shapeless ghast lay twisted in a dusty alcove. Ordinarily, they didn't catch her attention, unworthy and unremarkable. They were common enough that oft she only registered them with her sharp Ranger senses rather than having actually paid attention to them. The little thing shuddered and sobbed with such ferocity that she wondered if it had forgotten it no longer lived and thus had no need for such heaving breaths. </p><p>A shock like ice water shot through her veins as the faceless thing seemed to gaze at her. "Min'da! Min'da! I'm scared! The fires are coming!" The voice of a child seeped into her consciousness like a dagger in her skill and she found herseld transported back to Quel'thalas, to the children sobbing and screaming to their mothers, to her, to save them from Death...</p><p>Only this time...this child was begging to be saved from her. </p><p>"Death comes for all of us, little one. This is how the path was written." She found herself whispering. It did no good. The echo of the child could not hear her and instead began shrieking as the fires drew near for it. She turned and continued down the hall, it's cries slowly subduing like it had cried itself to sleep before they stopped entirely. </p><p>It was almost a mixture of shock and relief when she suddenly came upon the door to which even her free access to Torghast did not let her within. still, she drew back her hood on her cloak, and pressed her forehead against the muted cold of dark steel and closed her eyes. </p><p>~*~</p><p>"You. I could never love you."</p><p>Some days, it was magic his beloved tortured him with, today it was words. No, not his Dark Lady. For all the mimicry the tower could muster from his memories, these were always too cruel, too unpredictable, and too heavy handed to be her. Still, there were scars raw on his bare soul that were attempting to heal, and she was content to tear the scabs away. </p><p>He remained quiet, closing his eyes, remembering a kiss against a pillar outside Windrunner Spire. Visions of moments, stolen, when there were no eyes to catch them but one another. The words she would speak, sharp like razors, but laced with passion that flayed him bare and left him wanting. </p><p>"If you had not failed in your mission, we would not be doing this, Nathanos. You would not be in here, and I would not have to be fixing your mistakes!" she hissed, leaning down to grip his chin and pull it up til he met her gaze, punctuating with a harsh resounding slap that left cuts from her nails in his cheek. </p><p>Not that spirits could bleed, but the faux Banshee Queen found amusement in seeing it. She could harm him, sure, that was her purpose. But generally...a soul's shape could be decided based on what they see. He allowed her to punish him..."How cute. You know you deserve this. I should have never chosen you as my Champion!" </p><p>"Do not mistake my being complicit for being complacent for being here. I did not fail my Dark Lady in the end." He spat, letting his head fall back to gaze at the floor.</p><p>"Oh, Nathanos. But you did fail. If only you had killed the Death Loa, it would be you and I walking the parapets of Torghast, together." She lowered her voice to a sultry whisper. </p><p>He chuckled for that, a rich sound that made the true Sylvanas outside the door want to fall into the sound of it and never leave it. Something about it stirred her dead heart in a way she could never quite put words to. </p><p>"Stroll the parapets? Now? I will admit, that I...came short of completing that duty for my Dark Lady, but loving walks beneath a soul-lit sky was never quite our forte. There is always work to be done, and my duty to Her, never wavers." He said. </p><p>It was the tormentors turn to laugh, though rather than sounding stressed at its barbs and jabs falling just shy of working, it carried with it the sound of one joyous for finding its in. </p><p>"Your duty to never be a burden to her? To be an arrow rather than a weight in her quiver?" A sickening smile fell across its dark lips, and Nathanos knew suddenly that something had changed. "Do you not get it, Champion, you're just another link on her chain she hopes to break free of. She did not choose to love you, Nathanos, and she has no mind to continue to be a slave to it." </p><p>Before he could do anything but feel that sudden ache from those words, dark, necromantic energy left her fingertips to course through his body, using that moment of weakness as an in to the very core of his soul. It latched onto his pain, and it multiplied it, proliferating it like a plague of heartache. His red eyes went black, reaming purple on the edges as the energy escaped through here and then his mouth as his pained screams left his raw throat. </p><p>Sylvanas remained outside his door as the torture continued, her eyes closed as she listened for the duration. "I never wished to break the chains that bound me to you, Nathanos. I only wished to give you the freedom to walk away from me." She whispered, touching the door gently before pressing herself away from it to return to her duty anew.</p><p>-fin-</p>
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